Tesco, OFT settle price-fixing probe

A Tesco supermarket is seen in west London December 1, 2008.
REUTERS/Toby Melville

Tesco Plc, Britain's biggest retailer, will pay a reduced 6.5 million pound penalty to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), after the parties reached a settlement on a price-fixing probe.

The OFT in 2011 had concluded that Tesco participated in fixing the retail price of cheese in 2002 and 2003, and it originally fined the company 10.4 million pounds.

Tesco had appealed the decision at the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

In a statement on its website, the OFT said the appeals tribunal upheld its findings that Tesco broke competition law three times by coordinating increases in the prices consumers paid for cheese in 2002. (r.reuters.com/bum36t)

The appeal tribunal dismissed all other OFT findings against Tesco.

"Tesco is pleased that it has today settled the dairy competition appeal with the OFT," the company said on its website. (r.reuters.com/cum36t)

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Next In UK

LONDON Britain's Brexit minister David Davis is "not really interested" in a transitional deal to cushion the country from the effects of leaving the European Union, he told a private meeting with the City of London Corporation, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

LONDON Britons expect a sharp rise in inflation over the coming year following the plummet in the value of sterling after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and more now believe a hike in interest rates is on the way, a Bank of England survey showed.

Trending Stories

Sponsored Topics

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: